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A Beginner’s Guide: EPCOT’s Food and Wine Festival
As of August 20th, EPCOT’s Annual Food and Wine Festival has been up and running. Disney-lovers flock to EPCOT during this time of year and with good reason. This year marks the 23rd Annual Food and Wine Festival; if you haven’t had the chance to visit in the past, know that this year’s festival has great food and drink options waiting for you. The festival is a great experience for Disney-fanatics, self-proclaimed foodies, or anyone looking to take advantage of the unique experiences Orlando has to offer. In order to avoid long lines and unnecessary/uninformed spending, you’ll want to know a bit about the Food and Wine Festival before arriving. Granted, it’s a pricey experience so if you choose to visit, you’ll definitely want to make the most of your trip. Park Admission The Food and Wine Festival takes place in EPCOT; one of Disney World’s four main parks (excluding water parks). In order to attend the Food and Wine Festival, you’ll need to pay an entry fee to enter the park. Fair warning—this entry cost will not cover the cost of food at the Festival. Depending on the day you attend, you will either need to pay $102, $114, or $122 for your entrance. If you want to attend on a popular day(like a Saturday) you can expect to pay a higher price. Likewise, you can save money by electing to go to Food and Wine during the middle of the work week. In order to get an idea of what days will garner you the best deal, you can check the Disney Ticket Center website. Annual pass holders—this isn’t something you need to worry about. Make sure you aren’t attending on a “blackout” date and you’ll be guaranteed entrance to EPCOT as you would just before or just after the Festival. Picking a Date When selecting a date, here are a few factors to take into consideration: Weekend V. Weekday: '''If possible, I definitely suggest you attend on a weekday. Even a Friday will be substantially less busy than a Saturday. Typically, lines are very busy on the weekends and moving from country to country around the festival becomes more difficult. If you want to have as many dining options as possible and be able to roam to park easily, a weekday is your best bet. '''Other Guests: Food and Wine is typically much more enjoyable in a small group. For example, I typically attend with 4 or 5 friends and we’ll often split the meals at different countries. This allows us to sample as many foods and drinks as possible. With that in mind, make sure you select a date based on your availability along with the availability of the group you plan on attending with. Time: Timing is key. If you are going to attend on a weekend, it is important to arrive early. Just know—while the park may open as early as 8:30am, Food and Wine does not begin until 11am. When 11am hits, you want to be at your first destination ready to order. Navigating the Park Once you arrive, you can pick up a park map and festival “passport” at any of the information desks along your way. The festival passport shows you all of the different food and drink options at the festival. Unfortunately, the festival passport does not list prices. If you are interested in planning your stops after viewing prices, there are unofficial guides (like this one) online that can give you that information. I strongly suggest planning out what you will be eating before you get to the park. It’s easy to pass three or four countries and become full within the thirty minutes of arrival. If you plan ahead, it will allow you to pace yourself and get the most out of your experience. The other major benefit to planning out where you will be eating is that you can solicit recommendations from friends and read forums where Disney-regulars tell you best experiences at that year’s festival.